While Jiang Chen was making plans for Huang'er and the others' departure, several high-ranking members of the Xiahou family were engaged in a tense discussion deep within the family's most classified stronghold.
This classified domain was the seclusion grounds of the sole remaining supreme ancestor of the Xiahou family, an elder who had been in closed-door cultivation for over three hundred years.
In the Eternal Divine Kingdom, rumors of him had faded to nothing for nearly a millennium. Whether he was even still alive had long since become an unsolved mystery in the outside world.
"Xiahou Zong is dead?"
A indifferent yet ancient voice drifted out from within the secluded valley—the voice of the Xiahou family's sole surviving supreme ancestor, Xiahou Ming.
In terms of age, Xiahou Ming had long surpassed ten thousand years old.
Across the entire Eternal Sacred Land, there were probably only a handful of beings older than he.
At his age, he should have long since seen through life and death, transcended the joys and sorrows of the mortal world. Yet at this moment, there was an unmistakable tremor of abnormality in the old ancestor's voice.
Perhaps Xiahou Zong's death had shaken him more deeply than anyone would have expected.
"Ancestor, this junior is incompetent. I failed to look after Xiahou Zong—this junior is utterly useless." Though the Marquis of Freedom was the patriarch of the entire clan, before the old ancestor, he still meekly referred to himself as a junior, not daring to put on any airs.
"Aigh…" Xiahou Ming's tone was desolate as he let out a long sigh. "I once divined Xiahou Ming's fate and observed his fortune. Before the age of forty, this boy would face a tribulation. I warned you about this tribulation a thousand times over, but none of you ever took it seriously. This tribulation was not entirely a death sentence—if he had survived it, he could have soared to the heavens like a great roc spreading its wings across the nine skies. Alas, in the end, he could not endure it. The fortune of our Xiahou family will likely suffer enormously because of this."
The Marquis of Freedom was wracked with anguish. "Ancestor, it is this junior's incompetence. Please punish me severely."
"Punish you? If punishment were useful, I would strike you dead with a single palm. But what good would killing you do? Besides, Xiahou Zong's failure to overcome this tribulation—your failings were not the primary cause. At the end of the day, his own blessed fortune simply was not deep enough, and his character had not been tempered well enough. In the world of martial cultivation, how many geniuses have failed to achieve greatness because of flaws in their character? Xiahou Zong… a pity, a great pity…"
The ancient tremor in Xiahou Ming's voice carried an ineffable sense of regret.
"Ancestor, then what path should our Xiahou family take going forward? Can the plan we have been plotting still proceed?" The Marquis of Freedom could not help but ask.
"The arrow is already on the string—how can we not release it? The Eternal Divine Kingdom must ultimately face a decision. Xiao Yao, in any faction within the Divine Kingdom, if you cannot overthrow the Sacred Land's position of dominance while you are strong, then you will inevitably decline, be suppressed into second-rate or third-rate obscurity, or vanish entirely from the river of the Divine Kingdom's history. Remember, the fortune of our Xiahou family has brought us to this point. Though none of us can divine the absolute limit of our clan's fortune, this kind of opportunity must not be squandered. The Eternal Sacred Land, after so many years of attrition, is approaching the end of its rope. Remember—we are growing stronger, while the Sacred Land grows weaker with each passing year. Do you not understand this?"
A killing aura blazed in the depths of Xiahou Ming's eyes.
"This junior understands." The Marquis of Freedom certainly did understand this logic. The reason for his hesitation was that with Xiahou Zong's fall, he was no longer certain whether the Xiahou family still possessed sufficient fortune to challenge the Eternal Sacred Land.
"If you understand, then what is there to be confused about? Xiahou Zong was a genius seen once in ten thousand years, but our Xiahou family's foundation built over all these years does not rest on a single individual. Xiao Yao, if you lose your fighting spirit over this, you would truly disappoint me."
The Marquis of Freedom hastily replied, "This junior's fighting spirit burns bright—I have not lost it in the slightest. With the Ancestor presiding over the grand scheme, this junior is brimming with confidence."
"Right now, how stands the situation among the great powers of the Divine Kingdom?"
"The three great sects and seven great families—a total of ten factions. At least six or seven of them have already reached a tacit understanding. Everyone is thinking the same thing: dismantle the current order, end the Eternal Sacred Land's reign of dominance, establish a new framework, and overturn the Sacred Land's autocratic rule."
"Six or seven? Does that mean the remaining three or four are standing on the Sacred Land's side?"
"No, no, no. A worthless clan like the Yan family—I did not even count them among the opposition. They may appear neutral, but they are actually on our side. It's just that for a matter of this magnitude, a declining family like the Yan clan may not even have the capacity to participate."
The Marquis of Freedom's words dripped with undisguised contempt for the Yan family.
"The Yan family?" Xiahou Ming let out a cold snort. "If I remember correctly, Xiahou Zong's grudge began because of the Yan family, didn't it?"
"Yes…" The Marquis of Freedom grew somewhat embarrassed. "That Shao Yuan—his hatred for Xiahou Zong stemmed entirely from that girl in the Yan family."
"A classic case of beauty as catastrophe. Xiahou Zong couldn't even see through something as simple as that. To die at the hands of his rival—that's hardly unjust."
There was an unmistakable note of displeasure in Xiahou Ming's tone.
"Xiao Yao, the uprising is imminent. You need to keep your composure and not let the Sacred Land sniff out anything suspicious at this critical juncture. Otherwise, all our efforts could come to nothing."
Xiahou Ming offered this caution to the Marquis of Freedom as well.
"Rest assured, Ancestor. Everything has been conducted with the utmost secrecy. Ancestor, if we do destroy the Sacred Land, then what of the matter of the royal family's rise and fall…"
"Hmph. Once the Sacred Land is eliminated, what will the royal family amount to? The royal family is nothing more than a puppet that exists at the pleasure of whichever powerful faction holds dominance. They only need to maintain the outward appearance of order in the Divine Kingdom. Behind the scenes, there is no need for a truly powerful monarchy. The current royal family—they think too much, and that makes them dangerous. Once the future of the Eternal Divine Kingdom is settled, the existing royal family absolutely cannot be allowed to continue."
Xiahou Ming's voice was cold, as though the rise and fall of the throne was, to him, the simplest matter in the world.